


I Can Feel No Pain

by SolarMorrigan



Series: Solar's 007 Fest 2019 [19]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q is hinted at, Alternate Universe - Corpse Bride (2005) Fusion, F/M, I didn't tag mcd but considering the content of the movie, Vesper's a corpse guys, just be aware??, yo that was already a tag nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 22:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarMorrigan/pseuds/SolarMorrigan
Summary: Bond found Vesper sitting at a piano that had been fashioned, like many of the other things around there, from an old coffin. Bond supposed if you had enough of them lying around, you started to get creative.Vesper was tapping out an idle melody on the keys, and utterly ignored Bond when he sat down on the bench beside her.





	I Can Feel No Pain

**Author's Note:**

> Day 19! So this is a scene from an idea for a [Corpse Bride AU](https://solarmorrigan.tumblr.com/post/186361412093/corpse-bride-au) I posted the other day. Very brief rundown would make Bond Victor, Q Victoria, and Vesper Emily. That's probably all you really need to know. This part is kind of an unholy mashing-together of the duet scene from Corpse Bride and shower scene from Casino Royale. I've never written Vesper before, but it was fun to try
> 
> Also fills "Grief" on the [Angst Prompt Table](https://mi6cafe.wordpress.com/007-fest/007-fest-2019-prompt-tables/)

Bond found Vesper sitting at a piano that had been fashioned, like many of the other things around there, from an old coffin. Bond supposed if you had enough of them lying around, you started to get creative.

Vesper was tapping out an idle melody on the keys, and utterly ignored Bond when he sat down on the bench beside her.

It had been a long time since Bond’s piano lessons as a boy, but he’d kept up the skill enough to play at parties and impress various hosts and paramours in his travels. He placed his fingers on the keys and mirrored the next few notes Vesper played.

She glanced up for a moment, eyeing Bond, but then looked back to the keys. She played another set of notes, something starting to resemble a melody, and Bond played them back to her. He spotted the faint crook of a smile on her face and added a few more notes to the end of the set before falling silent.

For a moment, it seemed like she wouldn’t pick up where Bond left off, but she did after a pause, did so with gusto, putting both hands on the keys and playing a melody that Bond was hard pressed to call anything but haunting. He did his best to play along for a short while, but had never been much for duets.

Instead, he took the opportunity to watch Vesper as she was swept away by the music, a rare moment when she wasn’t scrutinizing him just as carefully.

Bond could see now how lovely she must have been in life; he could imagine her cunning eyes less sunken and her dark hair smooth and glossy. She was still striking, but much of that came now from the sharp mind that dwelled within.

Vesper seemed to realize she’d lost her accompaniment and slowed to a stop with a few final, resonant notes. “Not quite your speed?” she asked with a smirk.

“Not quite.” Bond gave a half shrug. “But don’t stop on my account.”

“I get the feeling people do things on your account more often than they should,” Vesper replied with a shrewd look.

Bond couldn’t help but smile, ceding to the jab. “They might.”

With a knowing sort of hum, Vesper put her fingers back on the piano keys, but didn’t play. “Does your young man upstairs play piano?” she asked, looking back over at Bond.

Bond blinked. He’d never thought to wonder if Q could play piano. “I’ve no idea,” he admitted.

“Can he dance?”

“I’ve never asked.”

“Does he sing?”

“Haven’t a clue.”

“Does he make you smile?”

Bond paused, surprised by the question. “We didn’t spend much time together,” he said, as though that hadn’t been obvious. “He might have.”

“I could make you smile. I have.” Vesper’s gaze found the keys again.

“You have,” Bond said softly. “But that’s not what this is about, is it?”

Vesper shook her head. “I know that I’m dead. I know what that means, I’m not a moron. But I–” she broke off, a catch in her voice. “I can play the piano. I can sing. I like dancing. Well, I _used to_ – I just. I _was_ someone. And now I’m dead. None of that means anything anymore.”

There was a pang in Bond’s chest, an ache for the woman sitting beside him and the life she would never lead. Was it possible, he wondered, to grieve for someone you never knew in life? Could you mourn someone who was sitting right beside you, as real and animated as any living person?

“I miss the sun on my face. I could thrust my fingers into a burning candle, and I wouldn’t feel any warmth,” Vesper spoke quietly, staring down at her hands. “I miss the warmth.”

Slowly, Bond reached across the piano keys, making his intent clear before he carefully took one of Vesper’s hands in his own. He held it close, rubbing it gently between his hands, as if to bring some warmth back to it.

It was a futile gesture, he knew, but when he reached for Vesper’s other hand, she readily gave it.

“Better?” Bond asked, once he had both Vesper’s hands held in his own.

With a tremulous smile, Vesper nodded over at him, and Bond found he couldn’t quite help but smile back.

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on [Tumblr](https://solarmorrigan.tumblr.com/post/186409013348/i-can-feel-no-pain-james-bond-bondvesper) if you prefer being over there


End file.
